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Apache HTTP Server vs lighttpd vs Mongoose Web Server

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Apache HTTP Server
64.9K
22.8K
+ 1
1.4K
lighttpd
148
133
+ 1
27
Mongoose Web Server
12
37
+ 1
3

Apache HTTP Server vs Mongoose Web Server vs lighttpd: What are the differences?

  1. Architecture and Performance: Apache HTTP Server is a traditional multi-process, multi-threaded server, which may impact performance under heavy loads. Mongoose Web Server, on the other hand, follows an event-driven, single-threaded architecture, making it more lightweight and efficient for handling concurrent connections. lighttpd, known for its speed and efficiency, uses a single-threaded architecture like Mongoose, making it suitable for high-performance scenarios.

  2. Configuration and Extensibility: Apache HTTP Server has a powerful configuration system with numerous modules that provide extensive customization options but may require more complex configurations. Mongoose Web Server offers a simpler configuration setup with basic options but lacks the extensive module ecosystem of Apache. lighttpd focuses on simplicity and performance, providing a minimalistic configuration approach that is easy to set up and maintain.

  3. Resource Usage: Apache HTTP Server is known to consume more system resources, especially memory, due to its multi-process nature. Mongoose Web Server and lighttpd, being more lightweight servers, require fewer resources to operate efficiently, making them suitable for resource-constrained environments or embedded systems.

  4. Operating System Support: Apache HTTP Server has broad support for various operating systems, including Windows, making it a versatile choice for different environments. Mongoose Web Server primarily targets embedded systems and platforms like IoT devices, often optimized for specific operating systems. lighttpd, with its focus on performance and efficiency, offers robust support for Linux and Unix-based systems.

  5. Community and Support: Apache HTTP Server has a large and active community with extensive documentation, forums, and resources available for users. Mongoose Web Server and lighttpd, while having dedicated user bases, may not offer the same level of community support and documentation as Apache, potentially impacting troubleshooting and learning resources for users.

In Summary, Apache HTTP Server, Mongoose Web Server, and lighttpd differ in terms of architecture, performance, configuration, resource usage, operating system support, and community resources, catering to diverse needs and preferences in web server technology.

Advice on Apache HTTP Server, lighttpd, and Mongoose Web Server
greg00m
| 6 upvotes · 765.4K views
Needs advice
on
Apache HTTP ServerApache HTTP ServerMicrosoft IISMicrosoft IIS
and
NGINXNGINX

I am diving into web development, both front and back end. I feel comfortable with administration, scripting and moderate coding in bash, Python and C++, but I am also a Windows fan (i love inner conflict). What are the votes on web servers? IIS is expensive and restrictive (has Windows adoption of open source changed this?) Apache has the history but seems to be at the root of most of my Infosec issues, and I know nothing about nginx (is it too new to rely on?). And no, I don't know what I want to do on the web explicitly, but hosting and data storage (both cloud and tape) are possibilities. Ready, aim fire!

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Replies (1)
Simon Aronsson
Developer Advocate at k6 / Load Impact · | 4 upvotes · 760.2K views
Recommends
on
NGINXNGINX

I would pick nginx over both IIS and Apace HTTP Server any day. Combine it with docker, and as you grow maybe even traefik, and you'll have a really flexible solution for serving http content where you can take sites and projects up and down without effort, easily move it between systems and dont have to handle any dependencies on your actual local machine.

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StackShare Editors
| 2 upvotes · 724.4K views
Needs advice
on
Apache HTTP ServerApache HTTP Server
and
NGINXNGINX

From a StackShare Community member: "We are a LAMP shop currently focused on improving web performance for our customers. We have made many front-end optimizations and now we are considering replacing Apache with nginx. I was wondering if others saw a noticeable performance gain or any other benefits by switching."

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Replies (3)
jlp78
| 3 upvotes · 726.3K views
Recommends
on
NGINXNGINX

I use nginx because it is very light weight. Where Apache tries to include everything in the web server, nginx opts to have external programs/facilities take care of that so the web server can focus on efficiently serving web pages. While this can seem inefficient, it limits the number of new bugs found in the web server, which is the element that faces the client most directly.

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Leandro Barral
CIO at IkeCode · | 2 upvotes · 724.2K views
Recommends
on
NGINXNGINX

I use nginx because its more flexible and easy to configure

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Christian Cwienk
Software Developer at SAP · | 1 upvotes · 723.5K views
Recommends
on
Apache HTTP ServerApache HTTP Server

I use Apache HTTP Server because it's intuitive, comprehensive, well-documented, and just works

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Decisions about Apache HTTP Server, lighttpd, and Mongoose Web Server
Daniel Calvo
Co-Founder at Polpo Data Analytics & Software Development · | 8 upvotes · 288.5K views
Chose
NGINXNGINX
over
Apache HTTP ServerApache HTTP Server
at
()

For us, NGINX is a lite HTTP server easy to configure. On our research, we found a well-documented software we a lot of support from the community.

We have been using it alongside tools like certbot and it has been a total success.

We can easily configure our sites and have a folder for available vs enabled sites, and with the nginx -t command we can easily check everything is running fine.

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Grant Steuart
Developer at GMS LLC · | 4 upvotes · 429K views
Migrated
from
Apache HTTP ServerApache HTTP ServerPHPPHP
to
NGINXNGINXPHP-FPMPHP-FPM
  • Server rendered HTML output from PHP is being migrated to the client as Vue.js components, future plans to provide additional content, and other new miscellaneous features all result in a substantial increase of static files needing to be served from the server. NGINX has better performance than Apache for serving static content.
  • The change to NGINX will require switching from PHP to PHP-FPM resulting in a distributed architecture with a higher complexity configuration, but this is outweighed by PHP-FPM being faster than PHP for processing requests.
  • The NGINX + PHP-FPM setup now allows for horizontally scaling of resources rather vertically scaling the previously combined Apache + PHP resources.
  • PHP shell tasks can now efficiently be decoupled from the application reducing main application footprint and allow for scaling of tasks on an individual basis.
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Hari Kishore
| 7 upvotes · 418.4K views
Shared insights
on
AnsibleAnsibleApache HTTP ServerApache HTTP ServerRed Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)Apache TomcatApache Tomcat

I was in a situation where I have to configure 40 RHEL servers 20 each for Apache HTTP Server and Tomcat server. My task was to 1. configure LVM with required logical volumes, format and mount for HTTP and Tomcat servers accordingly. 2. Install apache and tomcat. 3. Generate and apply selfsigned certs to http server. 4. Modify default ports on Tomcat to different ports. 5. Create users on RHEL for application support team. 6. other administrative tasks like, start, stop and restart HTTP and Tomcat services.

I have utilized the power of ansible for all these tasks, which made it easy and manageable.

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Pros of Apache HTTP Server
Pros of lighttpd
Pros of Mongoose Web Server
  • 479
    Web server
  • 305
    Most widely-used web server
  • 217
    Virtual hosting
  • 148
    Fast
  • 138
    Ssl support
  • 44
    Since 1996
  • 28
    Asynchronous
  • 5
    Robust
  • 4
    Proven over many years
  • 2
    Mature
  • 2
    Perfomance
  • 1
    Perfect Support
  • 0
    Many available modules
  • 0
    Many available modules
  • 7
    Lightweight
  • 6
    Easy setup
  • 2
    Virtal hosting
  • 2
    Simplicity
  • 2
    Full featured
  • 2
    Proxy
  • 2
    Open source
  • 1
    Available modules
  • 1
    Fast
  • 1
    Security
  • 1
    Ssl support
  • 1
    Light weight
  • 1
    Easy to configure
  • 1
    Web server

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Cons of Apache HTTP Server
Cons of lighttpd
Cons of Mongoose Web Server
  • 4
    Hard to set up
    Be the first to leave a con
      Be the first to leave a con

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      - No public GitHub repository available -

      What is Apache HTTP Server?

      The Apache HTTP Server is a powerful and flexible HTTP/1.1 compliant web server. Originally designed as a replacement for the NCSA HTTP Server, it has grown to be the most popular web server on the Internet.

      What is lighttpd?

      lighttpd has a very low memory footprint compared to other webservers and takes care of cpu-load. Its advanced feature-set (FastCGI, CGI, Auth, Output-Compression, URL-Rewriting and many more) make lighttpd the perfect webserver-software for every server that suffers load problems.

      What is Mongoose Web Server?

      Mongoose is built on top of Libmongoose embedded library, which can turn anything into a web server in 5 minutes worth of effort and few lines of code. Libmongoose is used to serve Web GUI on embedded devices, implement RESTful services, RPC frameworks (e.g. JSON-RPC), handle telemetry data exchange, and perform many other tasks in various different industries including aerospace, manufacturing, finance, research, automotive, gaming, IT.

      Need advice about which tool to choose?Ask the StackShare community!

      Jobs that mention Apache HTTP Server, lighttpd, and Mongoose Web Server as a desired skillset
      Staff Software Engineer - Site Reliability
      Pinterest
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      SpeedDreamLinux+20
      What companies use Apache HTTP Server?
      What companies use lighttpd?
      What companies use Mongoose Web Server?

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      What tools integrate with Apache HTTP Server?
      What tools integrate with lighttpd?
      What tools integrate with Mongoose Web Server?
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        What are some alternatives to Apache HTTP Server, lighttpd, and Mongoose Web Server?
        Apache Tomcat
        Apache Tomcat powers numerous large-scale, mission-critical web applications across a diverse range of industries and organizations.
        NGINX
        nginx [engine x] is an HTTP and reverse proxy server, as well as a mail proxy server, written by Igor Sysoev. According to Netcraft nginx served or proxied 30.46% of the top million busiest sites in Jan 2018.
        JBoss
        An application platform for hosting your apps that provides an innovative modular, cloud-ready architecture, powerful management and automation, and world class developer productivity.
        Jetty
        Jetty is used in a wide variety of projects and products, both in development and production. Jetty can be easily embedded in devices, tools, frameworks, application servers, and clusters. See the Jetty Powered page for more uses of Jetty.
        XAMPP
        It consists mainly of the Apache HTTP Server, MariaDB database, and interpreters for scripts written in the PHP and Perl programming languages.
        See all alternatives

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